The business and culture of our digital lives, from the L.A. Times

IPhone 5 launch at Apple on Oct. 4, invite says

September 27, 2011 | 9:35
am

The call has come in: Apple will officially launch its next iPhone (or iPhones) on Oct. 4, next Tuesday. The unveiling of the much-anticipated iPhone 5, announced in an invitation sent to members of the media Tuesday morning, will be held on Apple's Cupertino, Calif., campus, in its Town Hall auditorium.

"Let's talk iPhone," the invitation says simply.

The invitation graphic, above, doesn't give much else away. The Google maps icon on the lower left is focused on Apple's campus at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, directly adjacent to Interstate 280. And then there are the time and date.

The phone icon, lower right, may be the only clue: For iPhone users, the little circled red "1" indicates a single message or call. Might that mean that Apple will announce only one new iPhone model, rather than two models, one of which was rumored to be smaller, cheaper, or faster version of the iPhone 4? I'm not sure this counts as convincing evidence but it's the only thing I can think of.

Either way, check this space next Tuesday. The Times' Technology blog will have full, up-to-the-minute coverage of the iPhone's launch, price and availability.